Lecture 4, ITAP - What is key to reliable and creative process? (Inspiration and understanding)

As creative people we collect, enquire, record and inspire ourselves to create works of what we are interested in. But to achieve inspiration in the first place first we must research. To start these creative flows, usually we look around ourselves to see what interesting things are amongst us, to firstly gain inspiration. But we also look around us to other practitioners, and understanding other practitioners work and the journey they made to the final outcome often helps us better understand our own journeys and discoveries. Two artists Kiki Hartmann and Dorte Nielsen questioned what went on behind the scenes of the creative practitioner, so they set off around Europe in search of artists and practitioners from all disciplines to see how they create their unique, original ideas. They were shown sketchbooks and work spaces and even bottom draws, and their conclusion was that hard work and everyday objects, the skill of putting everything into a sketchbook made the creative, beautiful final outcomes. Paul Davis said: “Notebook after notebook after notebook, because I feel sick when I forget a potentially good idea.” What is learnt from others is that we should record, paste down everything that could one day inspire a great idea, we should inspire not to imitate but to innovate. Saul Steinberg famously said that: “The whole history of art influences me”, there is a world of creativity out there, people creating every hour of everyday, to immerse yourself into the creative world means that you have to live and breathe and even sleep it too.

            But creating can’t just be about random artifacts and ideas, it has too – eventually – have meaning. Not one practitioner can say that his/her art is for everyone, for the children and for the elderly and everyone in between. It is simply not possible to cater to every living souls need and make sure that they find it inspiring, or even like it. The role of the audience then becomes a main focus point for a practitioner, who am I appealing too? Who is my work for? It isn’t like they’re cutting themselves down to a certain audience, but having everyone is too broad of a spectrum. As a practitioner you have to inform yourself of your audience to be able to enhance and focus your communicative creativity. To know an audience you have to explore what is already around, knowing your research, how you can be more innovative, how you can connect in the best possible way, what’s the output you hope to achieve.  For instance an illustrator Jonathan Allen – one of my favorite children’s books authors – realizes his audience, children, what he wants to illustrate, children’s books, and through exploration has discovered his own personal visual language. He has realized what makes him successful and stuck to it, it may be similar to other children’s books, but it is also different. He would have had to explore what else was around at the time when he started and even today, how he could apply himself to his audience and making sure his characters are created in the best possible way to create an entertaining, original children’s book. He has discovered his audience and warped his style and skill to fit with it.

Examples of my own sketchbook pages: